Defused North bomb was intended for G8 venue, claim dissidents

A dissident republican group has claimed the hotel where G8 leaders will meet in June was the intended target of a bomb intercepted by the PSNI and defused last weekend. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Wire

The hotel where G8 leaders will meet in June was the intended target of a bomb intercepted by the PSNI and defused last weekend, a militant nationalist group has said.

Army bomb disposal experts defused the device containing 60kg of homemade explosives in the Co Fermanagh town of Enniskillen, close to where the Group of Eight leaders will hold their annual summit in three months' time.

Dissident nationalist group “Óglaigh na hÉireann” said in a coded message to television station UTV that the bomb was bound for the 5-star Lough Erne hotel, the broadcaster said.

A senior PSNI officer had said on Saturday that police believed the bomb was en route to a police station in a town nearby.